Updates and Ways to Help After Helene

Nov. 26, 2024 Update: Over 100 people came together today to discuss the Avery County housing recovery effort in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Volunteers, representatives from businesses and foundations and government officials joined individuals from Chief Cares, Mountain Ways, Samaritan’s Purse, Appalachia Service Project, American Red Cross and FEMA for a facilitated discussion about a more centralized and cohesive coordination of the housing rebuild efforts. The idea of a long-term recovery group for Avery County was also introduced, and attendees broke into smaller groups to form committees around areas of focus such as volunteer management, donations management, construction management and more. The meeting was hosted by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation at the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery.

Nov. 22, 2024 Update (Event Date Change): Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation is hosting an Avery County Housing Recovery Effort Resource Meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 10 a.m. (See flyer below for more information.)

Representatives from Chief Cares, Mountain Ways, Samaritan’s Purse, Appalachia Service Project, American Red Cross and FEMA will be in attendance, as well as county administrators and local and regional nonprofit and foundation leaders. The goal of the meeting is to get a cohesive, centralized coordination of the housing rebuild efforts for Avery County – to better understand who is already doing what, what resources are available and what niches still need to be filled. RSVP at https://bit.ly/ResourceMeeting.

PLEASE NOTE: The general public is not invited to this event.

Nov. 15, 2024 Update:

It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina. While we have made a lot of progress, there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done. Recovery will take years. With that in mind, our staff has some travel tips to help encourage folks to make thoughtful visits to our region. You can also read more about these tips at grandfather.com/thoughtful-travel.

Oct. 22, 2024 Update:

Grandfather Mountain will reopen Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 9 a.m. From there, the park will be open seven days a week, weather permitting, with park entry being from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., trails closing at 5 p.m. and the park closing at 6 p.m. The Woods Walk, Bridge Trail, Black Rock Trail and Grandfather Loop will be accessible to guests, and daily programs scheduled through Nov. 3 will resume. As always, booking tickets and a reservation time online in advance is strongly encouraged. In this first phase of reopening since the tropical storm hit the region, the park will sell a limited number of tickets. There are still those areas that can’t accommodate outside travelers at this time. To learn more, including how to plan a thoughtful post-Helene visit to both the mountain and the High Country, please see grandfather.com/reopening-after-helene.

Guests purchasing admission tickets online will have the option to make a donation toward the park’s ongoing Hurricane Helene disaster relief fund. The ability to add a donation to a sales transaction will also be available in the park at the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery, Top Shop and Mildred’s Grill.

Though it is now more than three weeks after the storm, Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation plans to continue partnerships and long-term support for community members directly impacted by Helene for the foreseeable future.

Oct. 18, 2024 Update:

Though the mountain remains closed until further notice, our habitat staff has an update: The creatures that call Grandfather home are doing well, and they miss visitors!

While maintaining their typical caretaking routines and clearing storm debris from the habitat spaces, staff have noticed the animals being extra social. The otters and bears have been particularly active when they’ve seen keepers walking around — Fanny May even put on a show for insurance adjusters!

We are grateful that the park received minimal damage from Helene, that the animals are okay and that they have an amazing team looking after them. All of us look forward to reopening sometime soon, although we do not have a set date at this time.

To learn about Grandfather Mountain’s hurricane recovery efforts, please look at our past updates below.

Photos by Leslie Restivo

Oct. 11, 2024 Update:

Two weeks have now passed since Helene struck, and we’re glad to be seeing more and more staff make their way back to the mountain. We continue to go out into the community to serve our neighbors, as well as assist with needs within the park.

This past week saw our team coordinating the delivery of loads of seasoned firewood to the south end of Avery County. We’ve learned that many folks had their wood piles washed away, and temperatures have dipped in the area at night this week. Staff have also been coordinating the distribution of other cold-weather supplies to this hard-hit part of the county, including camp stoves, propane, electric heaters and more.

We’ve been continuing to serve meals in the Plumtree community, help sort items such as clothing at the distribution center at South Valley (South Valley Garden Center has served as a donation distribution center since the first days after the storm) and assist with the processing of donated supplies at the local YMCA. We are fortunate to have an employee assisting us with signage for, and communication with, the Spanish-speaking residents in our county.

The shower house at MacRae Meadows was open for people all week (and through tomorrow). With more and more households getting power back in Avery County, we will close the showers after Saturday.

Many thanks to Bob Barnhill, chairman of the board of Barnhill Contracting Company, located in Rocky Mount, N.C., for a significant delivery of supplies this week – generators, tools, Shop-Vacs and fuel – to aid with our relief work. In addition, Barnhill Contracting employees held a hurricane relief drive and collected an entire box truck full of goods to send our way, including over 5,000 pounds of sweet potatoes! We partnered with other area nonprofits to get the supplies where they were needed and so appreciate our friends at Barnhill Contracting for their generosity!

While we are very grateful for the kindness of so many folks in the immediate aftermath of the storm, the region has been inundated with donations like water and toiletry items. The best way to help moving forward is through monetary donations to trusted nonprofits (you can support the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation’s efforts here) or by marking your calendars to check in with local officials and other contacts in a month and two months (and so on) to see what is most needed then. The recovery period will be a very long one.

Grandfather Mountain is still temporarily closed until further notice. We are actively involved in conversations with county administrators and the tourism communities and businesses around us about a thoughtful reopening plan for when the time is right.

In the interim, see the below photos of our team in action, and thank you for checking in.

Oct. 5, 2024 Update:

Attention locals! We are partnering with our friends at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games to open up the shower house in MacRae Meadows, beginning Monday, Oct. 7.

The Games have posted this schedule for the warm-water showers: Monday – Saturday: 8 – 11 a.m. and 4 – 7 p.m.

When the showers are available, the meadow gate on the Linville-side of the meadows will be open. MacRae Meadows is located just south of the Grandfather Mountain park entrance on U.S. 221.

An attendant will be on site while the showers are open.

If you are coming to use the showers and have a towel, washcloth and toiletries you can bring for yourself, please do so. Grandfather currently has a limited supply of towels and toiletries for folks coming without these items, but we are working on getting more.

If you are from outside the region and would like to support the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation’s continued relief work efforts, please visit grandfather.com/helene to make a donation.

Oct. 4, 2024 Update:

It has been one week since Helene tore through Western North Carolina, leaving behind unimaginable effects for the communities surrounding Grandfather Mountain. Towns were flooded; roads and bridges washed away; landslides have forever changed the landscape of the region; many people have lost their homes and livelihoods; and, tragically, people are still missing and lives were lost.

As we continue to grasp the full extent of the storm’s impact on so many, we know that there is a very long and difficult road ahead.

We have been working with hundreds of folks from Avery County nonprofits and tourism friends to good Samaritans and international relief organizations.

Though the majority of the county has yet to get power back and communication signals are still limited in some areas, Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation staff have been showing up at the park every day this week to provide surrounding communities with supplies, meals and support. This has included delivering nonperishable food, water, generators, gas and other goods; assisting at donation distribution sites; coordinating the dispersal of Starlink kits; clearing trees, debris and some residential trash; helping with flood cleanup; preparing hundreds of meals daily for both rescue crews and local residents; grilling hamburgers and hot dogs in hard-hit areas; and getting immediate assistance to our neighbors in need.

Oct. 1, 2024 Update:

All of us at the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation want to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for your thoughts, prayers, messages, concern and love, from near and far, both for this special place and the High Country of North Carolina.

Thankfully, we can share that all Grandfather staff are safe. We’ve been working tirelessly — through communication challenges, minimal or no cell signal and poor road conditions — to confirm that every employee is accounted for.

The mountain’s habitat animals are also all doing well and being cared for by their dedicated team of keepers. The park sustained some damage, but nothing that can’t be cleaned up with time.

There are truly no words to describe the devastating impact the storm has had across Western North Carolina. Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not.

We have turned our focus from park operations to humanitarian efforts in our area until our communities become more sustainable and are working with a number of Avery County nonprofits, other regional businesses and our tourism friends on this. Locally, donated supplies can be taken to the First Baptist Church in Newland.

Over the last few days, Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation staff members have been helping out wherever they can, purchasing generators so hospital patients can go home with their medical equipment and so folks in local shelters can return to their neighborhoods as well, helping feed 250 members of local rescue crews in partnership with World Central Kitchen and purchasing items like gas grills and batteries for the community. Volunteer hours have also been spent in a number of different ways, such as moving goods and clothing to be distributed to those in need and helping with grading repairs so flood-damaged businesses in the community get closer to reopening.

We are so thankful for our area’s first responders, emergency crews and everyone else that has come together in the community to help others. We are trying to support these essential community members any way that we can.

How You Can Help Right Now:

Monetary donations for Hurricane Helene relief efforts can be made on our website. Those funds will be used to provide immediate assistance to people affected by the storm in our community. The Grandfather Mountain team and the community appreciate any donation, of any size.

While we continue to gather more information and assess the situation, we will provide updates as best we can. The park remains temporarily closed until further notice. Please stay tuned. We appreciate your support at this time, and always.